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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Cold War (2018) in Movies

Feb 15, 2019  
Cold War (2018)
Cold War (2018)
2018 | Drama, Music, Romance
7
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
A meditation on love
There are some movies that I can bang the review out the moment I leave the theater (for example, ANY movie starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson). There are other films that I need to sit with for a few days and sort out my feelings and thoughts about them. Such is the case with the Polish film COLD WAR.

I am an "Oscar completist" and, thus, needed to see this film, not because I am a big fan of foreign films or because I am culturally literate, but because the Director of this film, Pawel Pawlikowski, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.

And I'm glad I saw this film, for COLD WAR is a rich, thoughtful, meditation on love and sacrifice that is full of mood and emotion. This film was conceived, written and directed by Pawlikowski and it shows on the screen. There is much heart on display here. It is said that Pawlikowski patterned the two lead characters after the tumultuous relationship of his parents (he even gave them his parents name), so I gotta think there is some knowledge and depth to these characters and their situations that resonate.

I walked into this film not knowing much about the plot or characters and this actually worked in the favor of the film, so I won't say much about it now except to say that this film follows the characters Zula (Joanna Kulig) and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) as they experience life and love in Poland in the years just following WWII, the "Cold War" years.

As far as the acting goes, both Kulig and Kot are strong and they share a rich chemistry with each other. The film crackled when these two personalities were on the screen together and didn't crackle when they weren't together, so that must say something for their performances. Anyone else on the screen is "fine" (read: forgettable) in service of the plot and the two leads.

But, make no mistake, this film is a Director's film and Pawlikowski deserves the Academy Award nomination he received. The scenes are lush, and very "European" (lots of shots of still objects with a single viola playing in the background). The film was shot in black and white and this really helps the "behind the Iron Curtain" feel of things.

This film was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, and I think it has a good shot for that award (Pawlikowski is, I feel, a long shot for his award). Which makes this film worth seeing, just know you are getting a Polish language film, centered on two characters, with lots of long, lingering "beauty" shots setting up environment and feel. Don't expect fast pacing and action.

Letter Grade: B+

7 1/2 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
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The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated Lilac Girls in Books

Oct 5, 2020  
Lilac Girls
Lilac Girls
Martha Hall Kelly | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
4
8.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel is very nicely written, with interesting characters. In particular, the protagonist Caroline is beautifully formed, with a life that is fascinating for those who know little about how Americans tried to help those who became unwitting refugees in the US after Hitler invaded their homelands. However, we must remember that Holocaust novels are a dime a dozen. This is why I was hoping that this novel would be different, particularly since the blurb for this book talks about Christine and her helping two survivors of the women's camp Ravensbruck. Unfortunately, the detailed information about the two other women in this story, and their introduction to Ravensbruck was, in my opinion, too much back-story. Although retelling the grim and gory ways that the Nazis treated their prisoners is a necessary evil, I somehow felt that this book included these scenes only to evoke pity for these characters. I don't want to pity characters, I want to have empathy for them, to care about them, and the author let me down with this.

In addition - and I hope this doesn't sound racist or snobbish - as a Jew, I have a hard time with Holocaust novels that seem to outwardly ignore how the Nazis treated the Jews, and only focuses on the other "undesirables." I realize that the Nazis didn't only kill Jews, but they were their primary target, and to avoid that altogether was disingenuous, to say the least. However, I was glad that this book didn't focus on any overtly Christian themes, even though I believe that there is a market for Holocaust stories within the Christian Fiction genre (see my review of the novel The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron here http://drchazan.blogspot.com/2014/07/beauty-out-of-ugliness.html for more on my feelings about this).

Furthermore, the only Jewish reference I found in this novel was a passing reference to visiting the Ghetto and a remembrance of eating a Hanukkah delicacy. Unfortunately, the author didn't do her research properly, and the character said she remembered eating a type of doughnut that the Jewish bakers made for the holiday. Those doughnuts - known as "sufganiot" were never part of any Eastern European Hanukkah celebration at that time. In fact, sufganiot that are popular among Jews today, come from the Jews of North Africa and Arab countries. The word, sufganiot, comes from the Arabic and Hebrew words that mean sponge. While Jews in Poland did make something similar, their popularity as a particularly Hanukkah delicacy among Easter European Jews only coincided after Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews came together in Israel (i.e., post-1948). All of this is why I cannot give this book a rating of more than two and a half stars out of five, but I'm certain that it will find a much more sympathetic audience among non-Jewish readers.
  
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